Patience is a virtue….sometimes.
For the past few years, I have been working on my first novel, Purgatory. It was indeed a process of writing and rewriting, editing and then editing it once again. A storyboard was created, used, scrapped, redone, then finally used to create a strong finished product.
I finally completed the product in the end of July, after having both Craig and Keith read and edit it. I then fixed all my mistakes, which were many, and placed the final period on the story Purgatory. It was one of my greatest accomplishments as most people talk of writing a book but few get around to it.
So I sat down and wrote, what is called, a query letter. It was a one page letter which covered several topics. I had to give a brief, and I mean brief, synopsis of my novel. My 255 page book was reduced to one paragraph. This was tougher than I thought. I had trouble because my novel is really original and has many moving parts. After that, I had to inform the reader of who I was, in a brief biography. Who am I? Well this was my first novel. After that? Hmmm, married, child, history, video games, Mets. These aren’t exactly selling points; especially my love of the Mets. Basically I spent one page selling my book. And again, this is a tough tough process. Everything has to be perfect.
Next came the process of finding a literary agent. Once I finished my book, I thought, “no problem with this one. I will just send it to the agent that interests me most and wait for the request to read my manuscript”. Unfortunately, that was my first rejection. I re-read the agent’s website and decided that maybe my genre just wasn’t “for him”. So I found several more agents that specialized in both young adult lit, as well as historical fiction. I knew, just knew, they would all say yes. However, more rejections.
So here I am 14 rejections later. I am a bit closer as an agent did ask to read my manuscript. 14: No/ 1: Yes. While that is considered a minor slump in baseball if a batter went 1 out of the last 14, it is considered a minor victory in the writing world. Sure my hit was a bloop single. If she shows more interest, then we can make it ground rule double.
The reason I write this is because it was an eye opening and humble experience; one which I am still stuck in. I currently have 50 query letters out, with only one yes. I am sure a lot of the agents haven’t got around to reading my letter, some never will. One agent sent me a rejection letter just minutes after I sent my query. In his rejection response, he apologized for it taking so long to get back to me and said this project may not be for him. Hmmm, a long time in responding? It was minutes. It MAY NOT be for him? It either is or isn’t.
I am not worried that eventually someone will pick up on my novel and they will be happy they did. It is original and not the typical vampire/wizard book that young adults normally read. I have had four people read it and heard great responses from them.
So I won’t give up and I will keep plugging away. Maybe this agent that asked to read my book will be excited enough to want to work with me. Maybe she won’t and I will move on. I might be surprised and have several of those 50 agents ask for my manuscript. They could also all turn it down and I will continue my search. Either way, I have to be patience. I don’t really have a choice.
PURGATORY: coming soon
Date: August 28, 2010
Categories: Books, family, History, literary agents, New York Mets, Politics, Purgatory, queries, Stories, writing process
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